Today I saw on facebook that one of my friends said that people who mock people for believing in God are small minded and that they don't see the bigger picture. While I understand her viewpoint, I think it was somewhat small minded for her to think that people who don't believe in God to not see "the bigger picture". After I moved out, I dubbed myself an agnostic christian - meaning, I believed in God, but I couldn't prove whether or not he actually existed. However, the more I thought about it, I realized that I'm more agnostic than anything. I would like to think that there is a higher power - be it God, Vishnu, Ra...for all I know, Zeus could come down and save my ass.
But back to my ramble. I think just saying "no you're wrong, or your belief in a higher power is wrong" is in and of itself, small minded. The fact of the matter is, we don't know. I admire the fact some people believe in something, but at the same time, I find it completely close minded for them to judge my lack of belief. The only way you will know for sure, is when you die - you either go to heaven or you cease to exist.
I think what pushed me further away from organized religion is the way I was raised. I grew up in a Catholic household and I was raised to believe that if I didn't do good things and I didn't follow the Bible, I would go to hell. I don't know about you, but I think threatening a child with eternal damnation is somewhat cruel. It got to the point where I began to question whether or not my actions were caused by an irrational fear of being tortured in hell, At some point, I decided that I would rather be a good and moral person because that's who I wanted to be and because I wanted to make people happy. I was no longer driven by fear, but the desire - not for eternal life - but to be the best person I could be with the only life I knew I had.
I'm pretty sure I've rambled off point by now; and to be honest, I'm not exactly sure if I had a point to make. I think I just wanted to rant because ignorance goes both ways. I think the only way you can possibly be narrow minded is if you honestly believe that there is no chance you could be completely wrong. I believe everyone is entitled to their belief, but they should accept the possibility, that someone else might be right.